Susa 2010 Ok Ru May 2026

SUSA 2010 and the OK.RU Platform: A Study of Early Regional Social Media Integration in Russia Abstract This paper examines the intersection of the SUSA 2010 political monitoring project and the Russian social network OK.RU (Odnoklassniki). It explores how, during the 2010 regional election cycle in Russia, OK.RU was used as a tool for election observation, civic engagement, and information dissemination. The paper argues that while OK.RU was not originally designed for political activism, its growing user base made it an inadvertent public square for election-related discussions and monitoring efforts like SUSA. 1. Introduction The year 2010 was a significant electoral period in Russia, with regional parliamentary elections held in March and October. During this time, SUSA (a Russian acronym for “Free Elections Monitoring Network” — Свободные выборы, СУСА ) emerged as one of the first crowd-sourced election observation initiatives. Unlike traditional observers from the Central Election Commission, SUSA relied on citizen reports via the internet.